Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 508
Chapter 508: Basement Floor 1 (4)
A limit of sixty people. Not only that, after entering the portal, there was no way to go back through it.
While those two characteristics were reminiscent of a rift, other factors made it hard to officially classify this as one.
First off, there was the portal stone.
A portal stone was used to connect different floors. We’d had to activate the portal stone in order to come to this hidden area.
What’s more, there’s never been a new hidden area that turned out to be a rift.
When the term “hidden area” was written on the Stone of Honor, that usually meant a new floor or, more rarely like with the Labyrinth of Larcaz, a new hidden field that was already a part of the floor was unlocked.
And it’s not likely this is just a new hidden area that’s attached to the first floor.
For now, I decided to think of this place as a new floor since hidden fields closed at the same time that the floor did. On top of that, to even open the portal to this new hidden area, we had to go all the way to the third floor and spend a decent time collecting fragments.
Considering how long that would take, an adventurer would only manage to make it back here by the sixth day.
From a design perspective, it didn’t make sense for it to be a hidden field where there was only a maximum of two days left to explore it. That was why I calculated the possibility of this place being a hidden field to be rather low.
Then the most important thing is when this place will close…
We would find that out naturally over time.
“Versyl, are you done figuring out who everyone is?”
“Yes.”
Before we began our full-scale expedition, I had Versyl conduct an investigation to determine the strength of the adventurers that followed us here.
“First,” she began, “I’ll talk about the two most powerful groups. There are twenty members of the Silver Lion Clan and nineteen members of the Hektz Clan.”
“Both of them seem to be missing members?” Clans normally traveled in as large a group as possible. Before when the maximum number of people able to be paired together with the Companionship Spell was five, they would be in multiples of five.
Now that six was possible, they should have added up to some multiple of six.
“Yes. It seems that both of them are missing quite a few between them. Apparently, as soon as my barrier collapsed and the portal opened, everyone was out of their minds as they ran toward it.”
“I see. What about the rest of them?”
“There are also two teams of five members and one team of four.”
Diving further into the details revealed that the four-man team was missing a leader and one of the five-man teams was missing a warrior, which completely ruined their combat formation.
“Should I look into it more? They are all being cooperative with me, maybe because they are hoping they can lean on us in the future.”
“No, this is enough,” I answered. “Thanks.”
“And…”
“Hm?”
When I tilted my head, Versyl carefully added, “All three of the smallest teams have asked if we can protect them. It seems the other two clans also wanted to cooperate with us.”
“I understand the two clans cooperating with us, but what do you mean by protection?”
“Nothing special. They’re willing to do whatever we ask of them as long as we bring them along with us.”
They all greedily entered on their own without a thought, but now that they’re actually here, they must have realized the situation they’re in. It must be worse given that they aren’t even all together with their usual numbers.
“What do you plan to do?”
“What is their average skill level?”
“On average, I would say about fifth-floor.”
“Then there’s nothing more to hear. Tell them to take care of themselves.” Given their level, they would only interfere with our combat and wouldn’t be able to offer us much.
And even if we don’t accept their offer, I’m sure they’ll be able to take care of themselves. Or maybe they can leech off of one of the two bigger clans.
I wasn’t like I forced them to come here. I simply opened the portal as they wished, and that was it. I wasn’t inclined to do any more for them.
“Versyl, recast the Companionship Spell.”
“How should I do it?”
“Make Emily and Auyen one team. The rest of us will be another.”
For now, I decided to divide us into two teams. To be honest, I wanted us to just be one six-man team without Auyen, but I judged it would be better to have Auyen take some of the EXP as well. Since this was a new floor, there were bound to be new monsters. This way, Auyen could sit in the back and take in the free EXP as Amelia took care of the monsters on her own.
“Emily, are you fine with that?”
“I don’t mind. I understand the situation we’re in.”
“Alright, then that’s settled.”
“Bjorn! How much longer do we have to wait here?!” Ainar seemed to be running out of patience, too.
“Everyone, get ready to move.”
It was time to start exploring.
As soon as we started to move, the adventurers who were waiting around the starting point quickly took notice. One of them mustered up the courage to run over and ask me, “If you don’t mind…would it be alright if we follow you guys from far behind?”
In other words, they wanted to follow our lead because it was too terrifying to head off into an unknown floor on their own.
Ha, do these bastards have no conscience? Not only did I give them a free ride by opening the portal, but now they also want to ride our coattails as we explore this place?
“I do mind. Don’t follow us.” My firm answer brooked no refusal.
That, however, didn’t mean he wouldn’t give up so easily either. He was determined to Of course he didn’t easily give up either, as if he was determined to ride the wave of our success. “B-but…if you can even help us a little, then the number of people who will end up dying in vain will be greatly reduced.”
Seeing this one guy take the lead in trying to convince me, other adventurers were quick to follow his lead and back him up.
“That’s right…!”
“In emergencies, adventurers have a duty to help one another…”
“And if you help us, it will certainly help raise your reputation—”
What are these guys talking about? Do they think I’m some pushover because I opened the portal before? “When did I tell you to enter the portal?”
They all went quiet.
“If you’re an adventurer, you should be the one taking care of your own expedition.”
“But many of us are going to end up dead—”
“Surely you knew the risks before you came here? This is an expedition, after all.”
After saying that, I quickly left the starting point with my teammates. Whether my speech was effective or not, the other adventurers didn’t trail after us.
“Phew, I feel a bit better now. They all kept spouting nonsense.”
“But captain, is this really alright?” Auyen asked in a worried tone. “If they make it back alive, they might spread some weird, false rumors about you…”
I merely put on a smile as I patted him on the back. “You worry about everything. If you keep doing that, the only thing that’s going to hurt is your head.”
“Haha… As expected, you’re such an awesome captain.”
“Alright, enough of the chatter, and let’s focus on the expedition. We don’t know what awaits us ahead.”
We quickly made a long trek away from the starting point, walking along the coastline as we tried to grasp the terrain. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long. The terrain we were currently standing on wasn’t all that big.
“I knew I heard the sound of waves…”
“So we were on an island.”
More specifically, we were on a small, rocky island whose perimeter took only thirty minutes to walk. It was decent enough in terms of size for a starting island, just like Laemia on the sixth floor. However, after looking around the island, we noticed that this place was void of any and all monsters. No, forget monsters-there was practically nothing here at all.
On Laemia, there were at least trees we could cut down. But here, there’s nothing.
It was a shame. If a special material could only be obtained here, then we could have sold it for a high price.
Of course, it was still too early to give up hope. The real expedition would be on the sea.
“Rockrobe, do you think it’s possible?”
I first decided to hear the opinion of our navigator before we took off to sea. A cursory glance was enough to tell that this sea wasn’t anything ordinary.
“Yes. Even though it seems different from ordinary seawater, that piece of wood over there floats. We’ll have to try, I think our boat has enough buoyancy to float on it.”
“Good to hear.”
A silver wave crashed against the rocks on the shore. The ocean looked to be made of liquid mercury. And that wasn’t to mention the wide assortment of strange things floating atop the water.
Shwaaaaaa!
Each wave of the silver water brought a wardrobe, a fireplace, a thick book, an old sword, a knight’s helmet, and more. What was that over there, socks? I didn’t know what all of it was, but after hearing Auyen’s opinion, we went to a nice location to bring out the ship.
“Ohhh! The boat is floating!”
Thankfully, the boat floated on the water without any issues. We watched it for ten minutes before boarding, just in case. After confirming that the water didn’t damage our boat, we quickly boarded and prepared for departure. Now, it was time to leave the journey in Auyen’s hands.
“What? M-me?”
“Yeah. Just think of this like the first time you went to the sixth floor, not knowing anything.”
Auyen seemed troubled by the weight of the responsibility at first, but hearing my determination changed his mind. “Then, we’ll start by investigating the surrounding waters first…”
“Do whatever you think is best. And you don’t have to report every small detail to me either. You are much better than me when it comes to navigation.”
That was how we began our voyage, carefully traversing the waters under the direction of our navigator, Auyen. As we slowly drifted from the island, Auyen began to jot down a navigation map. He checked the depth of the water as well to assess for any hidden obstacles underneath. Amelia watched from the side, interested in what he was doing.
“I’m jealous of that talent you have.”
“…What?”
“I’m saying you’re doing a good job. I’m sure your name and that map will go down in history.
Just like the one from Pikma.”
Come to think of it, Amelia also had a strange obsession with things like that. Was it because she was never able to—and would never be able to proudly reveal her name on an achievement?
…I’ll have to think of a way for her to use her real name again when we go back to the city.
Since Auyen was managing the ship well without me, I left them to their business and headed up to the deck. If Auyen was considered an expert in navigation, then I was considered an expert in the labyrinth itself.
Our field of view increased.
On the rocky island, we could only see about one hundred yards ahead. But now that we were voyaging on the boat, the visibility had also gradually increased. The sky was pretty dark, so we couldn’t see all that far ahead, but you could still at least tell that the limited range of vision that had been there before had now disappeared.
“Versyl, have you found anything yet?” Since we were on the rocky island, Versyl acted like a wizard as she picked up any floating object she could find.
“No. Since there is no information related to any of this… For now, I decided to focus on collecting samples rather than research.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t find anything particularly interesting. “I see…”
If Raven were here, would things have been different?
Even though I was left with that thought, I didn’t feel all that disappointed. What was really the point of research when you got down to it? We were adventurers.
Our job was simply to find something and sell it for a high price.
Then I’ll leave all of that to Versyl…
I went to check on the rest of the members. Erwen was on the observation deck, on the lookout with her keen eyesight. Meanwhile, Ainar just seemed overjoyed to be on a ship, and Missha was standing off to the side by herself. Right as I was about to walk over and talk to her, a voice sounded out.
“Island! It’s an island!”
A new field was found.
It was our first discovery since coming to this hidden area. Excited, we quickly turned the ship to head in the direction Erwen pointed us toward.
But then, while we were still a good distance away from it, we all froze. The reason was simple.
“M-monster…”
It wasn’t an island.
“…What should we do?”
“Oh! Are we fighting it? Isn’t this the first monster we found? It might be weaker than we think!”
“A-are you crazy? It’s too reckless to try and fight a monster of that size!”
A monster so massive that we mistook it for an island had appeared. The only people who recognized just how dangerous that monster was were me and Amelia.
“…Yandel.” Amelia surely had a rough idea of how strong that monster was thanks to her Crisis Detection. According to her, it didn’t tell her anything aside from an estimate of the monster’s rank. “No, Auyen Rockrobe. Quickly, turn the ship away right now. We have to stay away from that thing as best as we can.”
“Wh-what? O-oh! Alright.” Auyen listened to Amelia’s orders without stopping to ask any questions.
Amelia then came over to me and asked, “Do you know what that is?”
I did.
That massive black shell. That elongated neck and dragon-like head. And that long beard attached to its snout.
“Tol-Lapupa. A rank one monster.”
“Seriously…? That’s a rank one monster?”
It made sense that this was my team members’ first-ever encounter with a monster like that. After all, 80 percent of all rank one monsters, including Tol-Lapupa, could only be found on the tenth floor. It was impossible to have information on it.
And that was a monster that only appeared in a hidden field.
Even on the tenth floor, you had to go into a hidden field to find it.
Shit…
Even after we managed to turn the boat around and escape from Tol-Lapupa, a chill still ran down my spine.
I can’t believe there’s a rank 1 monster in this place…
My head was whirring on full overdrive. How could the first monster we saw be that thing? And just how strong would the other monsters we’d eventually come across be?
If we fought that thing, we would certainly be annihilated in a second. Rank 1 monsters were even stronger and more difficult to take down than any upper-floor Lord of the Floor.
Does that mean we should head back to the rocky island…?
The thought was there before I could stop it, but I decided it would be too much of a pity to give up now.
Thus, we continued our voyage.
[00:01]
Day seven was now over. That meant the first floor had closed.
Alright, then that confirms this place isn’t a hidden field on the first floor…
Like I thought, this must be an entirely new floor. As for what floor it must be…
Basement Floor 1.
Since the second floor already existed, I assumed that this floor must be considered a basement floor. Hm, but what was the name of it? Normally when a new floor opened, the official name would also be written on the Stone of Honor.
I guess I’ll know when I get out of here and see it.
As we continued to sail the open waters, my monster-related worries slowly started to fade away.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
That was, until Versyl suddenly screamed out while fishing for whatever she could find.
“A monster! It’s a monster!”
I quickly ran over to her and looked over the railing. There was a monster climbing up the wall of the hull.
“Huh? What is that? It doesn’t look like a Murloc or a Frogman?” asked the confused Ainar, who had also run over after hearing Versyl’s cry.
However, I had no answer for her. We were on a new floor, after all. I had always thought there was a possibility this might happen.
“Croak! Crrroak!”
It was a new type of monster-one whose rank, classification, and name were completely unknown.